The Board of Directors of ABank appointed Zafer Kurtul and Turgay Gِnensin to the roles of non-executive directors at Alternatifbank (ABank). ABank is Commercial Bank’s 100 percent owned subsidiary in Turkey. The appointments are subject to regulatory approval.
Kurtul, who served as Sabancı Holding CEO between 2010-2017, has been appointed as ABank Board Member and Board Audit Committee Chairman and Gِnensin, who has worked in senior roles at Garanti Bank for many years has been appointed as ABank Board Member and Board Credit Committee Chairman.
Didem Çerçi and Paul Gossiaux have resigned from their positions on ABank’s Board of Directors. Commercial Bank Group CEO Joseph Abraham, who is currently an ABank Board Member has also been appointed as Vice Chairman of ABank.
“We are very pleased to have senior professionals of the calibre of Kurtul and Gِnensin joining the Board of ABank. Their appointments reflect the importance we place on ABank and our business in Turkey. Their valuable experience, insights and contributions will be key to the successful development and execution of our growth plans in Turkey,” said Omar Hussain Alfardan, ABank Chairman and Commercial Bank Managing Director.
Kurtul studied Business Administration at Istanbul University and holds an MBA degree from Wisconsin-Madison University. After working in executive roles at Citibank, BNP-Ak-Dresdner Bank and Societe Generale, Kurtul joined Akbank as an EVP in 1998. He served at the same bank as the CEO between the years 2000-2009 and as the Board Vice Chairman from 2009 to 2010. He worked as Sabancı Holding CEO between 2010-2017 and he also assumed the Board Chairman role at various subsidiaries of the Sabancı Group in the same period.
Gِnensin studied Business Administration at Boğaziçi University and started his banking career as management trainee at İnterbank at 1985. During the period 1987-1995 he was Manager of Financial Institutions and Corporate banking for Garanti Bankası. He worked as an EVP at Finansbank between 1995 and 1997. He assumed the role of CEO at United Garanti Bank International between 1997 and 2000, and at Osmanlı Bankası in the years 2000 – 2001. From 2002 to 2013, Gonensin served as an EVP and Commercial Banking Head at Garanti Bankası and from 2013 – 2015 as EVP responsible for the coordination of all Garanti subsidiaries and international operations. From 2015, he was a board member and credit and audit committee member of Garanti subsidiaries until May 2017.
